This invention generally relates to vacuum cleaners and, more particularly, to an operator-held wand for a vacuum cleaner. The wand may be used with an electrically powered or a non-electrically powered floor tool.
It is desirable to be able to use either a powered floor tool or a nonpowered floor tool with a vacuum cleaner. When cleaning rugs or carpets, a power tool is often preferred since the power brushes clean deep into the pile of the carpet or rug. It is equally desirable to employ a nonelectric floor tool when cleaning draperies, sofas and furniture, for example. Thus, the operator may be required to substitute floor tools several times during cleaning.
To accommodate a powered floor tool, electricity is usually provided from the vacuum cleaner to an operator-held wand by an electrical cord which may be disposed within the flexible vacuum hose. The cord terminates in a connector at its end. The connector is simply constructed and may be made of molded plastic. When the cord from the power tool is connected to the connector, power is delivered to the floor tool. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,034,085, 3,127,227 and 3,314,039 disclose such a system. These systems are not as desirable for use with a nonpowered floor tool because the electrical connector on the wand is cumbersome and tends to interfere with the operator during use.
We have developed a wand and connector structure for a vacuum cleaner which may be used with powered and nonpowered floor tools. During use with powered floor tools the electrical connector does not interfere with the operation of the system. If the operator selects a nonpowered floor tool, the connector is easily removed from the wand, and the connector mounting structure does not interfere with nonpowered floor tool use of the wand.
The disclosed demountable electrical connector arrangement is easily mounted on the vacuum cleaner wand and demounted therefrom by the vacuum cleaner operator in situations when the operator is switching from electrically operated attachments to non-electrically operated attachments in the course of cleaning activities.
The use of the disclosed demountable connector arrangement avoids the need to plug a separate connector into the vacuum cleaner hose on each occasion of using an electrically operated attachment while still permitting the wand to be used with a non-electrically operated attachment.
When the vacuum cleaner operator is cleaning an area that has surfaces requiring an electrically operated attachment such as carpet and other surfaces needing cleaning when using a canister vacuum cleaner having non-electrically operated attachments carried therewith, the operator can readily switch back and forth between electrically and non-electrically operated attachments without the need for carrying extra wands along as in the case when the electrical connector for the electrically operated attachment is permanently affixed to the vacuum cleaner wand.
The demountable connector arrangement includes a locking member which also serves as an operating or manipulating handle in removing and replacing the connector holder on the mount carried by the vacuum cleaner wand.
The connector holder can be mounted on the wand either before or after the wand is connected to a vacuum cleaner hose. Likewise, the holder and electrical connector can be removed before or after the wand is disconnected from the vacuum cleaner hose. Thus, the vacuum cleaner operator has complete flexibility in the use of the electrically operated and non-electrically operated attachments.
The following U.S. patents were also considered in connection with the present invention: U.S. Pat. Nos. 811,836, 1,595,919, 2,987,693, 3,035,243 and 3,778,863.